Nothing like a middle of the night tipping thread on FR!! Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead! LOL...
The part I haven’t figured out in the article was I had it in my head that those not actually waiting on customers had to be paid at least the standard minimum wage, not the lower minimum wage of a server. I really don’t get how the employer can set up tip pooling to augment pay in the kitchen and dish pit. It seems a base operational cost/concept that a restaurant will require competent kitchen help to have food that attracts diners. Thus, they also need a steady supply of clean service items plus clean cooking implements provided by a staff that busses tables and runs the dishwasher, etc. Using money given by customers, ostensibly to Server Susie, to pay Jorge in the dish pit is just out of line, IMO. And I’ve worked a dish pit and as a line cook so I’m not just talking out of my hind parts, either.
